title: Gifting and sharing cigarettes in a rural Chinese village: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Quantitative measurement of the prevalence of cigarette sharing and gifting in a town in rural China and evaluation of the impact of these practices on individual smoking habits and family expenditures.
  
  
  METHODS
  An interview-based cross-sectional study of 105 households in rural Hunan, China tabulated household cigarette gifting and expenditures. Individual smoking and cigarette sharing activities were also recorded among 198 household members aged >15 years who were resident for at least 6 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With regard to sharing cigarettes, 92% of men and 19% of women reported being offered a cigarette within the past week. Among previous and current smokers who had attempted to quit smoking, 90% reported that their friends had tried to dissuade them from quitting by tempting them with cigarettes. Concerning gifting cigarettes, 74% of households reported sending packaged cigarettes as gifts during the Chinese New Year Festival at an average expense of 2.8% of household annual income. Although households received an average of 12.4% of their annual cigarette consumption in the form of gifts during the Chinese New Year Festival, no association was found between the amount of cigarettes received by a household and the annual cigarette consumption for that household.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both gifting and sharing cigarettes are common in rural China. Gifting of cigarettes during the New Year Festival is a significant expenditure affecting both smoking and non-smoking households and may be an opportunity for additional mass media marketing. Among current and former smokers, sharing cigarettes in China is a major impediment to smoking cessation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Zachary C
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Mi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Shuiyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D037921:Gift Giving; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D062789:Tobacco Products / Q000191:economics
keywords: Denormalization; Economics; Low/Middle income country; Price; Social marketing